Violet Crown Cinema Ready for its Close-Up

Santa Fe spin-off of the Austin-based cinema set for April 30 opening

By Enrique Limón

After much hullabaloo, the 11-screen Violet Crown Theater is set to open the doors of the brand-new Railyard space on April 30. This after a private VIP reception scheduled for later this week.

The road to opening the movie house has not been a smooth one.

Back in May 2013

, we published concerns from area residents and business owners who opposed the theater. At the time some alleged “bad-faith dealing” over picking the Austin-based cinema’s bid over other viable ones.

Still, construction plans went forward, and now, along with offering new releases, classics, arthouse films, food and drink, theater owner Bill Banowsky hopes the multiplex will play host to initiatives involving local community groups.

“We’ve had a number of really positive conversations about how we can work together to utilize our cinema space in a way that is helpful to what they are doing,”

he told SFR in December of last year

.

The public opening is scheduled for Thursday, April 30, with the cinema’s

Facebook page

announcing Marvels’ Avengers: Age of Ultron for its maiden opening weekend.

Santa Fe Reporter

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